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[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH William Anders, 21–27 December 1968 image 1
[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH William Anders, 21–27 December 1968 image 2
[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH William Anders, 21–27 December 1968 image 3
[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH William Anders, 21–27 December 1968 image 4
[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH William Anders, 21–27 December 1968 image 5
Lot 13

[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH
William Anders, 21–27 December 1968

FOR ALL MANKIND: THE ARTISTIC LEGACY OF EARLY SPACE EXPLORATION: Victor Martin-Malburet Collection
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche

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[Apollo 8] THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH (large format) OF THE WHOLE MOON TAKEN BY HUMANS FROM A PERSPECTIVE OTHER THAN EARTH

William Anders, 21–27 December 1968

Printed 1968.

Large format vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper, flush-mounted on original NASA card [NASA image AS8-14-2506, reversed].
With NASA caption numbered "NASA AS8-14-2506" and Technicolor photo laboratory quality control stamp on the reverse (issued by NASA Kennedy Space Centre, Florida).

Sheet: 28 x 35.6 cm. (11 x 14 in.)
Card: 28 x 35.6 cm. (11 x 14 in.)

Historical context
This is the first-ever photograph taken by humans of the whole Moon revealing a hemisphere never visible from Earth, as seen only by lunar voyagers.
It was only after performing the first-ever trans-Earth injection manoeuvre—gaining altitude above the lunar surface—that the Apollo 8 astronauts became the first humans to witness this breathtaking entire view of the Moon. Seen from above its eastern limb, this perspective is one never visible from Earth.
Between December 1968 and December 1972, only the 24 Apollo Moon voyagers would ever witness such whole-Moon views.

Footnotes

Literature
LIFE, 10 January 1969, pp. 26-27
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, May 1969, pp. 622-623
TIME, 10 January 1969, p. 43
The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, p. 96

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